I've been riding for a month and a bit now. Done about 3000km in that time, but I've done less than 100 in the wet, where it has rained then started to dry and/or the roads are damp. Not on actual wet roads.
Today I had to go drop some videos off and it was raining, I thought what the hell might as well take the bike and go for a ride at the same time. I wasn't sure how much I could lean, where to position myself to allow for minimal lean but better cornering and what other things to watch out for.
I tiptoed around for the first 10km or so. Nervous as hell.
Finally after I started getting the hang of things and leaning a bit more etc I come up to a roundabout and as I'm braking my rear wheel locks up and I get a decent amount of sideways action. Thankfully I remained calm and eased off the back brake while holding the front so I didn't sail through the roundabout and actually came to a stop right at the line. I attribute that to lots of pushbike riding in the rain and doing little skids on them for fun. But it's just scary on a bike.
I then went to an empty road and actually practiced locking up my rear wheel and trying to control the slide while braking front and rear and seeing how much force I needed and how it felt when I was in control. But I imagine I'd be screwed if it happened in an emergency.
So a couple of questions for wet weather, before I learn bad habits.
Should I use my rear brake when coming to a stop?
Should I use my rear brake as I slow down entering a corner?
Should I use my rear brake if I need to rub off a bit of speed mid-corner? (Hopefully I never enter it too hot to do that though!)
Are motorbikes prone to locking up the rear wheel if you mess up a downshift? (letting out clutch too suddenly, over revving etc)
What else should I watch out for? What are some good practices such as lane positioning, when to open the throttle etc
Any other advice also appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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